Family Aflutter Store Gives Woman A Cockatiel To Replace One Killed By Fumes.

September 4, 1991|By ERIC CONRAD, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON -- Casey is back.

Rosemary ``Odie`` Spear, who last week saw her prized cockatiel and three other pet birds die after they inhaled fumes from non-stick cookware, on Tuesday accepted a free gray cockatiel from a Coconut Creek pet shop.

And Spear, who lives in west Boca Raton, promptly named the 12-week-old bird Casey after the talking white cockatiel she and her family loved so much.

``It looks like it`s going to be a friendly little bird,`` Spear said of the new Casey. ``It`s supposed to be able to talk and do tricks just like the other one.``

Spear also threw away the non-stick drip pans that her veterinarian thinks killed her birds.

``I won`t buy it any more,`` Spear said of non-stick cookware. ``My husband still uses his wok, on very low heat, but we`re even going to get rid of that.``

Meanwhile, Dr. Daryl ``Sam`` Backos, the Deerfield Beach veterinarian who diagnosed what happened to Spear`s birds, said his phone has been ringing off the hook.

Bird owners called to say they had no idea fumes from non-stick cookware, when overheated, could kill their pets, said Backos, owner of Backos Bird Clinic. Backos sees 10 customers a years whose birds die that way.

Backos will start distributing copies of a bird-care pamphlet published by the du Pont Corp. to his customers. Du Pont makes Teflon and SilverStone non- stick coatings. The brochure warns of the danger of odors from non-stick cookware.

Beth Miller, owner of Birds by Beth in Coconut Creek, received 500 brochures from du Pont and will give a few hundred to Backos. Miller`s store is the one that gave Spear the cockatiel on Tuesday. The bird would have sold for $70.

Miller said Spear, her two daughters and a friend from the neighborhood picked up the cockatiel. The family was excited.

``It`s a baby male,`` Miller said. ``It looks like he`s going to a very good home.``